Background:

Within the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, the issue of sovereignty and self-determination are unique to Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, for whom the United States is an occupying nation, similar to other indigenous peoples across the current U.S. Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders deal with issues that non-native communities do not, such as desecration of ancestral sites, militarism, and inaccessibility to natural resources due to colonization. The type of territory – whether incorporated or unincorporated, and organized or unorganized – impacts the relationship of the U.S. to each respective territory and its people. All five permanently inhabited territories are unincorporated, meaning only part of the U.S. Constitution applies to their peoples. Of the five permanently inhabited territories, all except American Samoa, are organized and accordingly have their own local governments and the people born there are U.S. citizens.

Three other nations – Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Republic of Palau – were previously under U.S. trusteeship (following World War II, until the 1980s) and are now sovereign nations that are in a Compact of Free Association with the United States. Through this agreement, they are independent nations but the U.S. is responsible for their defense, has special access for military operations in these nations, and provides some economic assistance to the nations.

Essay:

The territories in the Pacific Islands and Hawaiʻi have different statuses and, accordingly, different relationships with the United States.

Hawaiʻi

Before Hawaiʻi became the fiftieth U.S. state, it was an independent kingdom, unified by King Kamehameha I in 1810. The Hawaiian Kingdom had several agreements with other nations that established diplomatic and trade relations, including with the United States. Over the course of the mid-late 1800s, the influence and power of U.S. investors and sugar planters grew significantly. In 1891, Queen Liliʻuokalani, sister of the late King Kalakaua, became the monarch and replaced the existing so-called Bayonet Constitution of 1887, advanced by the white American business class to benefit white men at the expense of Native Hawaiians and Asian immigrants, with another constitution that increased the Hawaiian Kingdom’s authority.

In 1893, American sugar planters launched a coup and overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani under the threat of U.S. military force. Anti-annexation efforts by Native Hawaiians – including a mass petition drive that gained signatures opposing annexation from over half of the Native population, months of lobbying in Washington, and even a failed rebellion – and disagreements in Washington, D.C. delayed annexation for several years. Then, in 1898, the Spanish-American War increased Hawaiʻi's value and geographical significance as a mid-Pacific U.S. military location. Hawaiʻi was annexed that year and became the fiftieth state in 1959.

Not all Hawaiʻi residents wanted or celebrated statehood. The Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement continues to seek to reclaim the lost land and culture of the native people. Although recognized by the United Nations in 1946 as a non-self-governing nation, the Admission Act (Hawaiʻi Statehood) in 1959 removed Hawaiʻi from that designation, hampering greater international recognition of the Native Hawaiian sovereignty movement.

Guam

Guam has been colonized for almost 500 years between Spain, the United States, and, briefly, Japan. The U.S. formally acquired Guam from Spain as part of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish-American War and also gave the U.S. the Philippines and Puerto Rico. After the transfer of colonial authority to the U.S., Guam was placed under the jurisdiction of the Navy and was ruled by military governors who had absolute authority over the island’s affairs.

In 1901, a series of Supreme Court rulings known as the Insular Cases determined that U.S. territories could possibly never be incorporated into the country as states. Accordingly, they would receive only limited “fundamental” Constitutional protections and be governed by the U.S. indefinitely. Like Native Hawaiians, the native people of Guam, the CHamoru, resisted against this territorial status and governance by the United States, agitating them for self-determination instead. In 1901 and 1936, delegations of CHamoru petitioned the U.S. to end their rule over the island and to grant CHamoru citizenship, respectively. In both cases, the U.S. did not grant their petitions, instead, abiding by what the naval administrators of Guam preferred.

Following World War II, the Organic Act of 1950 was passed to cement Guam’s status as an unincorporated territory, creating a non-military, civil government for the island while simultaneously maintaining U.S. power over the island. The Act was passed to pacify the islanders after the Guam Assembly participated in a mass walkout in response to the Naval Governor helping an American violate a law prohibiting Americans from owning local businesses. The Act granted residents of Guam an unequal citizenship status: receive limited Constitutional protections, have no voting representation in Congress (Guam’s delegate to the House of Representatives cannot vote on the final passage of legislation), and unable to vote in federal elections. An amendment to the Organic Act in 1968 created popular elections for the governor, a position previously held by naval, military, and U.S. President-appointed governors. Today, the U.S. military controls about one-third of all land on Guam, and the island continues to have significant military value due to its proximity to Asia.

Northern Mariana Islands

Under Spanish occupation, the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam were a unified territory; splitting in 1899 when the U.S. took Guam, and the rest of the islands were taken by Germany. In 1947, following the end of World War II, the Northern Mariana Islands – under Japanese authority prior to and during part of WWII – were transferred to U.S. trusteeship by the United Nations. Initially, the U.S. Navy was given responsibility for civil administration, but responsibility was transferred to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior in 1951. In 1969, the various trustee territories began political status talks with the U.S., leading to the Northern Marianas holding a plebiscite in 1975. Through the plebiscite, the people of the islands voted for U.S. Commonwealth status. Some aspects of the new status were implemented in 1976, including the operation of a new government under its own constitution and an elected governor. The new status as a Commonwealth, effective in 1986, granted U.S. citizenship to eligible residents. In 2008, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) elected its first delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. However, like Guam’s Representative, the CNMI Representative has limited powers, able to introduce legislation but only vote in committees, not on the final passage of legislation.

American Samoa

In 1899, Samoa was divided in two: Germany gained control of the western islands, and the United States gained control of the eastern islands, eventually named American Samoa. The U.S. Navy held administrative power from 1900 to 1951 and prioritized creating a strategic naval base on the islands, leaving little power to Samoan leaders. After 1951, control shifted to the U.S. Department of the Interior and a governor with full powers to administer the territory was appointed by the U.S. government. American Samoa was not provided an organic act to establish a local government, but was instead granted the authority to write its own constitution. Popular election of governors began in 1977, and the first non-voting American Samoan delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives was elected in 1981.

As an unorganized territory, Samoans have been able to press for and gain more self-determination over their lands and political institutions because they are non-citizen nationals who are not subject to U.S. judicial oversight and abide by the U.S. Constitution. Their 1967 constitution and 1976 referendum incorporate indigenous customs of life, with two important and unique features of the constitution including communal land ownership and legislature that incorporates Samoan customs. American Samoa’s bicameral legislature also incorporates Samoan traditions: while the House of Representatives is elected, the members of the Senate are chosen by councils of chiefs. The Samoan way of life, or fa’a Samoa, is communal, and land ownership is determined accordingly: a large proportion of the islands is made up of communal land, which can be owned, sold, and developed only within Samoan families including neighbors, cousins, and other close relations. This communal land ownership system prevents non-Samoans from buying property in a free-market, private property model, as acquiring land also requires people to be at least 50% Samoan.

While some American Samoans, especially those who have moved to the mainland U.S., Hawaiʻi, or Alaska, believe that citizenship should be extended to Samoans, there are many who disagree and believe that U.S. citizenship would jeopardize the sovereignty they have been able to maintain. The American Samoan government has argued that “the imposition of birthright citizenship would upset a political process that ensures self-determination.” For example, prohibiting land ownership based on race would be unconstitutional based on the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause; yet, this is an ancestral custom and practice for Samoans. Many Samoans argue that a closer relationship with the U.S., as a state or organized territory, could lead federal judges to rule the Samoan political system and land rights as unconstitutional and create the possibility of vast demographic and political changes to American Samoa.